Les Métamorphoses d’Apulée (X-XI), ou l’initiation par les femmes

To see in the Metamorphoses a work of pure entertainment or an initiation story is a false problem. Beyond these artificial distinctions, Apuleius has produced a work that has the vivacity of life. Thus, behind the picaresque story and the tale, the irony and the entertainment, expresses an existential gravity : the Metamorphoses speak to us seriously about initiatory processes ; and this initiation is more precisely transmitted by women, considered ¢ this is also the case in the Aeneid or the Odyssey ¢ as those who allow the hero to exist, and who confer validity and legitimacy to his action. Thus, Apuleius gives us proof that an initiatory narrative is not an arid, even if edifying, pensum. Like life, he associates the depth of the roots and the shimmer of appearances. This is what the exceptional status of Apuleius in the world of Letters probably signifies : precursor, visionary, and watchman, able, like Virgil, to see beyond the contingencies related to times and fashions (he was said to be a fashionable author and a society man...).Thomas Joël. Les Métamorphoses d’Apulée (X-XI), ou l’initiation par les femmes. In: Vita Latina, N°199, 2019. pp. 17-33